Alpha Phi Alpha Inc. Black College Expo 2007 "Stepping"

Alpha phi Alpha Inc. was established on Dec.4, 1906, at Cornel University.
The nations oldest Greed-letter fraternity created for black college students is celebrating a 100-year anniversary. With would like to thank Teresa Price founder of Black College Expo for the opportunity to film both Alpha Phi Alpha Inc. & Alpha Kappa Alpha Inc Sorority. Stepping began with groups of guys singing acappella, and when groups like the Temptations and the Four Tops were popular in the 50's and 60's brothers started mimicking their steps. This was how stepping evolved. This is why it is called "Stepping" now. Brothers would try to come up with the best steps while they were singing to please the ladies. If you got the ladies you got more recruits. Much like it is today. Others say that stepping replaced the doo woop sounds and cardigan sweaters of the 50's. At around the same time as the "Black Power" Movements and Africa centered movements of the 60's, stepping started to flourish with the incorporation of some traditional African ritual dancing and the incorporation of other elements like cheer leading, tap, gymnastics, etc. Over the years stepping has become very intricate and demanding incorporating props, high levels of gymnastics and other elements found in team sports. Please note that some people want to give the credit to the South African Boot Dance, but it would be unfair to ignore everything that stepping was in the beginning and it is now. Stepping is an original art form that was influence by many elements from our past

Phi Beta Sigma stepping evolved even more with the contributions of Bro. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana. He introduced certain steps from his traditional African culture which used dance as a celebration of "coming of age". The coming of age ceremonies, or rites of passage, are when a young man comes into manhood. This is intimately tied to the pledge process which is itself Masonic & Afro-centric in origin and method. The cane was used by Bro. Nkrumah in his stepping ritual. Stepping is supposed to be done as a celebration of "crossing", or "going over", or "coming into manhood". From this brothers began to create and build. Over the years Sigmas have been known for numerous unique and identifiable steps.

These steps are:

"The Sigma "Nut-Cracker"
"The Passage" a.k.a. "The African Step"
"Precision"
"The Badstep"
"Jungle Walk"
"Hands and Feet"
"The Cotton Club"
"Time Step"
"Roxanne"
"Wood"
"Up Jumped the Devil"
"The Blindfold Step" (with or without cane
Blaze-Out!